The countdown to Christmas is officially on and the festivities might be the only thing that many of us can think about at the moment, but it’ll soon be time to start thinking about your 2024 social media strategy so you're ready to take the new year by storm! 🎉

This can seem like a daunting task especially if this is all new to you so, let’s break it down into the who, what, why, where and how, so we can get on the right track.

Who 

First things first, before you start thinking about any content or what platforms to post on, you have to begin with the who - Who are you marketing to? Who is your ideal customer? Who is currently buying from or working with you?

There unfortunately isn't a one-size-fits-all approach for this step in your social media marketing plan but, a really great place to start is creating a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a theoretical person, created with your existing customer and your “dream customer” in mind. In doing this you have to think about the following:

Demographics - things like age, gender, occupation and marital status
Psychographics - their values, beliefs and interests
Geographics - whether they live in a rural, semi-rural or urban area or even the country they live in taking into account possible language barriers.
Behavioural - spending habits, buying habits and customer loyalty.

You always have this in mind when creating your content; would they spend time on these platforms? Would they find the content interesting? Would it grab their attention? Would your solution solve their pain points? And most importantly, does it inspire, educate or inform them? This gives you a base to build upon to help with the rest of your strategy planning journey.

What 

After learning more about your audience, you then need to plan out what kind of content you want to share with your potential customers and/or clients. Blogs, videos, infographics and photographs are really great ways of sharing useful information with your target audience while still being attention-grabbing! Creating a blog doesn't have to be like writing a novel, it can be as short or long as you see fit. The main thing to focus on regarding blogs is that they are informational and educational whether that be on products or services that you provide or top tips and “how to’s” on keeping up with the latest industry trends.

Videos, animations and photographs are great for catching the eye of your target audience too and are the backbone of social media posting. Graphics can be a great way to condense information into a post, or promote blog content, while photography of your products, team and workspace are a great way to build trust and authenticity. If you need some helpful tips then check out this blog on how to make your photography POP! 🌟

Why

The next step involves a bit of detective work so it is time to twiddle your Hercule Poirot moustaches and get to work! 🔍 Analysing your competitors' content that resonates with your target audience helps give you a better idea of what works well and what really doesn't and it is a great foundation that you can build upon to get inspiration and make your content stand out from the rest. Take a look at their content, from language choices to imagery. Now this is not a copy-and-paste job but one to spark ideas to inform your own campaigns.

It’s also important to use your own previous campaign performance data to inform your 2024 strategy. Jump right into the analytics of your social networks, and look at compiling a report for a clear and comprehensive view of your content performance, post timings, likes, shares and much more. Don't forget Google Analytics for insights into traffic from your social media campaigns. This is super helpful to see the steps that your customer has taken after they see you on your social media! 

In the data-driven world of 2024, analytics is the key to effective social media strategy. After using this data to inform your strategy, it’s key to regularly analyse this data to spot trends and make informed adjustments, optimising campaigns for better results. 

Unfortunately, with the lack of fairy dust there is always the chance that things might not work out the way that we want them to but, the trick is to pick ourselves up, look at the data and see how we can improve. There is a bit of trial and error, but we can't get 100% right at the beginning!

Where

We all know it's impossible to be everywhere at once and in the case of social media, it really isn't necessary!

Choose one or two platforms initially, focusing on where your audience is most active. Once you establish a rhythm with engaging content, consider expanding to another platform. Prioritise proper setup with branded cover images and accurate contact information for a professional look and ease of audience communication.

Determine your content's posting ground based on reaching your target audience effectively. Tailor your platform selection to your audience demographic; for a younger demographic, platforms like TikTok and Instagram might be more effective than Facebook for example, and platforms like Linkedin may be better to reach professionals if you are marketing B2B. Choosing the right platforms ensures your posts shine bright and hit all the right notes with your audience!

How

So, you might be thinking that creating and implementing a social media strategy seems time-consuming but, there are many helpful ways that you can save time by creating calendars and scheduling content. 

Create a content calendar to ensure that you are meeting your posting goals and you can map out your campaigns in advance. Rather than posting sporadically each day, dedicate time to plan your posts for the month, or a week or two at a time. Assign specific dates for posting and make an effort to stick to them. This approach reduces the stress of remembering to post and then worrying about what to say and instead allows you to concentrate on managing your business effectively.

You can also make use of handy tools to schedule your content. These will allow you to send out content anytime, any day even if you are on holiday or eating your Christmas dinner! Log in to Meta Business Suite to schedule your Facebook AND Instagram posts in one place, and use the native scheduling functions within LinkedIn and Twitter (also known as X) to set your content to go out at set times in the future - these tools are all completely free too! 

Now you have the Who, What, Why, Where and How to get you started on your social media strategy for the year and you're ready to take on 2024! We hope you’ve found this helpful, but if you have any questions please get in touch. Our team is always happy to offer up advice or even step in to help when you need us. We’re already working on our 2024 content and we can’t wait to share it with you!